Elizabeth Peratrovich Day is a special day for SEARHC's Alaska Native patients and staff, and it is important that we honor her achievements. Our outpatient clinics will be closed on Tuesday, Feb. 16, for Elizabeth Peratrovich Day, but we will have on-call staff available to provide emergency services and regular staff working at Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital to take care of our patients who are hospitalized.

It was Peratrovich's impassioned testimony before the Alaska Territorial Legislature in 1945 that led to the passage of an Anti-Discrimination Bill eliminating the blatant discrimination policies faced by Alaska Natives. Until the bill passed, many Alaska businesses wouldn't serve Natives and treated Natives as second-class citizens.